Eggless macarons with sriracha flavour : VG option

I am still on aquafaba high. Remember those Meringues that I used for the bird’s nest from a couple posts back? I wanted to try macarons this time. Their pastel colour, innumerable flavours and of course the store Laduree in the city of lights always drew me to these delicate beauties.

Now if there can be chocolates with chilli flavour, sweet can be balanced with salt, how about a bit of Sriracha flavour for the macarons? I don’t mean the real sriracha flavour where your eyes and nose water after a bite in the macarons, but just a hint, a mild aftertaste, a little zing towards the end.

I try to stay away from artificial food colours. I know these ones have no chance standing next to the pale pink, pale blue, purple, green ones that we associate the macarons with. However a bite into them, did not disappoint me. The shells had the hint of sriracha and balancing the heat was the lemon buttercream filling.

I am a novice when it comes to baking, as some of you may know. I realised a template when piping the shell would have been very helpful for me. As of now you have these mini macarons to try.

Recipe: Made 3 doz mini macarons

Ingredients;

Aquafaba 1/3 cup

Almond flour 11/4 cup

Sugar 1 cup

Cream of tartar 1/8 tsp

Beetroot juice 1 tsp

Sriracha sauce 3/4 tsp

For the filling;

Butter or vegan butter spread 2 Tbsps

Icing sugar 2 cups

Juice of 1 lemon

Lemon rind 1 tsp

Method;

For the shell;

Collect the liquid from the canned chickpeas about 2/3 rd cup, reduce it to 1/3 cup on top of a flame. Let it cool down, let it sit in the fridge overnight.

Next morning add the cream of tartar to this reduced liquid, beat with an electric mixer for about 8-10 minutes until stiff peak form. Add the beet juice, Sriracha sauce. Throw in the sugar in 2 instalments. The mixture is ready when tilting the bowl upside down won’t spill anything.

Throw in half the almond flour to this mixture, use the spatula to press this mixture down against the side of the bowl, to remove any air bubble. Repeat this with the rest of the almond flour. Use the spatula to press the mixture again, do this about 20 times.

Spoon this mixture in a piping bag, pipe 1 inch circles on a parchment paper lined baking tray. Drop the tray from your shoulder level on the counter top 3 times to evenly spread the shell mixture. Bake in a 220 degree F oven for about 1 hour. Put the oven off, let it sit inside for about 1 more hour. Take them out and let them cool.

For the filling;

Cream together the butter ( vegan butter spread if vegan ), and half of the icing sugar till fluffy. Add the lemon juice, lemon rind and rest of the sugar. Spoon in a piping bag and pipe on half of the macarons.

Take the other half and sandwich with the filling in between.

Collect in a airtight container and store in the fridge overnight for the flavours to seep into the shells.

Inside Scoop;

As I pointed out before a template while piping the shell is an advantage for novice bakers.